Ann's mother, a minister's widow, used to a large family and a full busy life annong her husband's parishioners, was discontentedly facing a lonely winter in an out-of-the-way country-house six miles from the station, with Ann and a faithful old servant only. To keep her from moping, Ann conceives the idea of writing her mother's life, as an evening pastime. The story is her life in the process of being written. Beginning with Mrs Douglas' marriage. Ann leads her on from reminiscence to reminiscence until the entire family history is told. In the course of their conversations all the intimate family happenings, amusing and sad, tender and character-revealing, come to the surface with many a quaint anecdote about the homely Scotch people among whom the minister's lot had been cast. Occasionally the old servant puts in a word, in her broad Scotch brogue, to jog their memories.
